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Labor Loses Traditional Seat on U. of Minnesota Board

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Republican legislators in Minnesota, newly in the majority, elected former colleagues to two seats on the University of Minnesota Board of Regents and in the process ended a tradition of having organized labor represented in one seat on the board, The Pioneer Press reported. The Republicans said that the former legislators they selected will be outstanding regents. For 73 of the last 78 years, organized labor has had a representative on the board. In recent years, that person was Steven Hunter, secretary-treasurer of the Minnesota AFL-CIO. Democrats and labor leaders have said that the tradition was an appropriate balance to the business leaders typically selected for university boards. "It's just plain wrong that working Minnesotans will no longer have a say in how the university is run," said Shar Knutson, president of the state AFL-CIO.